Although I no longer work full time as a photographer, I still photograph regularly, and rely on online websites for news and information, technical updates, and artistic undertakings by my fellow artisans. But at the same time, I have found the need to be diligent and seriously examine the source of the information being provided. With each passing year, I have discovered the Internet makes it evermore easy for anyone with a camera and little if any working experience or training in this field, to set up a website or blog, and claim to be an "authority" on photography.

While the info I get from the web is invaluable, I learn a lot from actually practicing what I learn and then receiving feedback from instructors. Online courses are best because they can extend over several weeks or months and don't involve the cost of travel. Onsite workshops can be so intense that one doesn't have enough time to practice, have the info sink in, and receive feedback on one's efforts.

1. Learn basics on a mechanical camera so that any camera becomes transparent as the least important aspect of the shot. 2. Forget zooms. Use a prime focus lens. My "normal" lens, as a pro long ago on 35 mm, was a 24 mm. 3. Choose what you want to shoot and how. Observe the play of light early morning, daytime and just as the sun begins to set...setup 45 minutes before sunrise/sunset if you want your scene painted with that sort of light. My favorite always is horizontal early or late lighting, particularly with dark skies ahead and clearing backside. 4. If lighting and composition are not innate concepts you must learn them. Go to a used bookstore. Find a book that's full of large images by Ansel Adams. Study each to ascertain why it is so wonderful. Study how lighting falls; see what leads your eye into his image; think of the tonal range and how it impacts the image; examine depth of field and how and why he used it to his advantage..if you are into people pictures, do the same with a book that features portraits by Josef Karsh. Karsh had a manner of capturing sometimes the worst side, scar, or whatever of the face and used lighting like Rembrandt to amplify that aspect into a true personality capture of his subject. When he jerked the cigar from Winston Churchill's lips, his features morphed into the growling lion that kept Hitler's underwear damp. In every aspect these two were the finest photographers ever on this planet. If you learn 10 percent of what they did you will be 100 percent better than the average point-n'-shooter. This only can be done when the technical side of exposures and camera operation are non-issues. Practice, practice, practice until your eyes see everything in a horizontal format (as most cameras now are) and don't even notice the equipment that's mostly automatic now anyway. You should have already decided your depth of field and composition, hence your f stop and shutter speed. The camera and lens are really in the way when you learn how the great ones did it.